Australian Sikhs number over 210,000 people and account for 0.8% of Australia's population as of 2021, forming the country's fastest-growing and fifth-largest religious group.

It is difficult to separate the history of early Sikh arrival to Australia from that of the numerous other religious faiths that were represented the people of British India and more specifically the Punjab province.

It appears that the first Sikhs arrived in the country somewhere in the late 1830s, when the penal transport of convicts to New South Wales (which at the time also consisted of Queensland and Victoria) was slowing, before being abolished altogether in 1840.

The Sikhs came from an agrarian background in India, and thus fulfilled their tasks as farm labourers on cane fields and shepherds on sheep stations well.

While the Ghans consisted mainly of Muslims from largely from British India and some even from Afghanistan and Egypt, a sizeable minority were Sikhs from Punjab.

Hawking required little capital to begin, with young men travelling on foot until they had enough money to purchase a horse and cart.

[5] This denied Afghans, Assyrians and Chinese from renewing their license, giving the Sikhs a monopoly on hawking which they held until the 1930s when new European migrants began to ply the trade.

[6] As their families were not allowed to join these early pioneers many travelled back and forth finally returning to their original homeland to retire.

Many of the early Sikh pioneers obtained Certificates exempting them from a dictation test that non-whites had to undergo if they wanted to enter Australia after 1901.

Sikhs were classified as a martial race by the officials of the British Empire, who believed they were brave, loyal and well-built for fighting.

The Sikhs began to use their new-found rights in the 1930s when the early pioneers begun to bring their 'sons of working age' to Australia.

[9] With the enactment of the Racial Discrimination Act by the Whitlam government, Sikh migration to Australia dramatically increased.

While most Sikh immigrants can trace their heritage to Punjab, many come from countries other than India including Malaysia, Singapore, Fiji, Kenya, Uganda and the United Kingdom.

In May and June 2009, a number of Sikhs fell victim to a spate of attacks on Indians studying in the country, leading to protests in Melbourne and Sydney.

According to the 2021 census, the Sikh population numbered 210,400 individuals, of the majority (91,745) live in Victoria (state) followed by 47,165 in New South Wales.

[15] The winding trail features interpretive signage, plaques, benches, a sheltered area, and a boardwalk by the river.

[21] In 2023, four Hindu extremists, linked to Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), attempted to vandalize the Sikh temple of Melbourne’s Miri Piri Gurdwara and the posters of Sikh leaders placed outside the temple with graffiti.

All the four Hindu men were caught in the act, carrying cans of spray, sticks and paint, and apologized after confessing their attempt to vandalize the Sikh temple and the posters outside the Gurdwara.